VA Developing Innovative Patient-Centered Model of Care for Veterans

WASHINGTON (Jan. 19, 2011)-- The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is

creating a new office to develop personal, patient-centered models of

care for Veterans who receive health care services at VA's more than

1,000 points of care across the Nation.

"VA has become one of the Nation's leaders in quality health care and is

increasingly cited as the standard to emulate," said VA Under Secretary

for Health Dr. Robert A. Petzel. "However, we must always continue to

find ways to deliver more with our systems to the incredible patients we

are honored to serve. We need to be data-driven, providing the

treatments and therapies with the best clinical evidence, and we need to

be patient-centered, never losing sight that we have been given the

noble mission to care for our Nation's Veterans, families and

survivors."

The new VA Office of Patient Centered Care and Cultural Transformation

began operations on Jan. 17 and is based in Arlington, Va.

The office's director, Dr. Tracy Williams Gaudet, comes to VA from Duke

University Medical Center where she has served as the executive director

of Duke Integrated Medicine since 2001.  Dr. Gaudet received her

Bachelor of Arts and medical degrees from Duke University.  

"The VA's vision and commitment to cultural transformation comes at a

pivotal moment for health care in this country, and I am deeply honored

to be joining VA in this important work," said Dr. Gaudet.  "The Office

of Patient Centered Care and Cultural Transformation will be a living,

learning organization in which we will discover and demonstrate new

models of care, analyze the results, and then create strategies that

allow for their translation and implementation across the VA.  VA will

continue to be a national leader in innovation, and, in this way, we

will provide the future of high-quality health care to our Veterans." 

The VA Office of Patient Centered Care and Cultural Transformation will

have four regional implementation teams at select VA medical centers

across the country: Birmingham, Ala; East Orange, N.J.; Dallas; and Los

Angeles.

Each VA medical center was selected for excellence already demonstrated

in producing cultures of patient-centered care based on established

criteria.  These regional teams, comprised of patient-centered care

consultants, will be responsible for facilitating the culture change for

patient-centered care at all VA facilities.

---------------- "And so the greatest of American triumphs... became a peculiarly joyless victory. We had won the Cold War, but there would be no parades." -- Robert M. Gates, 1996